Detective Byers (English Vers.)

3) Detective on trial

Hopper's POV:

"Here's what I'm offering you: I'm taking you on trial. I'll take care of your training, you don't need to worry about that."

"My... training ?" Joyce asked incredulously.

"Of course, you can't think I'd be okay with sending you out there if you can't even fire a gun."

"Yes... of course, it makes sense... But when you talked about detectives, what they did seemed very different from what the officers do. They don't do much ground work do they ?"

"If you're asking this because of Murray, he's a bad example, he's too headstrong. And he's a private detective. He's not tied to hierarchies such as a police stations."

"I see." She didn't seem convinced, and was biting her lips, deep in thought. Hopper carried on:

"And Hawkins' station is small, it depends on other structures that we have to collaborate with when... the situation calls for it. But most of the time we work on small cases that don't require a detective to come."

"Unless it's for tracking down a monster from a parallel universe..."

They both reflexively glanced at the door before laughing nervously.

"So... I wouldn't be completely a detective not completely an police officer..."

"Let's say you'll be an officer attached to the investigation department."

Joyce sighed before looking him straight in the eyes.

"Hopper ?..."

"Yeah ?"

She hesitated before speaking.

"You have absolutely no idea what sort of task to give me do you ?"

"What do you..."

"I get it, you're trying to help me." She interrupted him. "You know the store is gonna close eventually, it's only a matter of months." She tried to hide the disappointment she felt. "You want to find me a job, and I appreciate that, really, I do. But let's face the truth: despite all your efforts, it's not because you decided I should join the team that this decision will be supported by everyone. And it doesn't mean I'll be able to meet all your expectations either. The truth is I know absolutely nothing about this job, and now you're coming to me with an idea that was originally a bad joke said when we were tracking down Russians who had come to Hawkins God knows how, but admit it, you have no idea what's gonna happen once I have signed this contract."

She finally let out a breathe after her monologue. From the beginning she had thought that his proposal was weird, but she had tried to convince herself that he knew what he was doing... until now.

"It's..." Hopper took the time to think about everything she had just said, before giving up. "It's roughly that."

His fingers started to tap the desk nervously. Seeing it from this angle, this proposal made on a snowy night and these few words shared over a call suddenly seemed to be filled with much more questions than certainties.

Joyce was still perplexed with the strange turn that this situation was taking. But she had come here to take her chance, and she wasn't about to back down now.

"Let me prove you this was not just a forced decision." She got up and walked to him. Was he dreaming ? The electricity between them was palpable. She put her hand on his shoulder. "I'll show you what I'm capable of. I'll make myself indispensable.

"You already are." he said.

She momentarily looked surprised, but then smiled. A genuine smile, not a smile to reassure him she was okay, not the grimace he had seen her make so many times when she acted like the world wasn't escaping her grasp. It was a calm and confident smile. The most beautiful smile of all !

He carried on:

"I should have thought about it more, I should have been more prepared before asking you this..." He ran a hand though his hair laughing softly. "To be honest, I still don't know where it'll lead us, but I'll do my best to ensure things will go smoothly."

"Why would things go wrong ?"

"I'm not the one you have to prove yourself to Joyce. I trust you more than all the men in my team combined, and I trust your abilities. But them... They won't accept that a woman takes such a position. I'm scared they'll try to belittle you or try to take you down."

"What do you mean ?... They could try to hurt me ?"

"No. No way. But they'll still be able to question your legitimacy. Few of them will let you come with them to do ground work for example. If this happens I could still try to intervene of course but..."

"This wouldn't be in your interest, or mine. Thank you, but things would be even worse..."

"I know."

"I'll know how to defend myself." she said, nodding gently.

"This might be what I'm the most afraid of !" he laughed, quickly shut off when she tapped his shoulder. "But if they really bother you, you'll have to come to me."

"Yeah..."

"Do you promise ?" he insisted.

"Hopper ! I'm not going to melt for God's sake !"

"I know... I'm sure you'll do great." He took his hat that was on his desk and started to fiddle with it.

"But... what about the store ? I can't just go away and abandon it !"

"You have an intern currently don't you ?"

"Yes, we do..."

"Why don't you take some days off ? You'll be paid here too anyway."

"I don't know... they still need me..."

"It's only for a few weeks !"

"But that's a lot !" she protested.

Hopper looked her straight in the eyes.

"This is an opportunity for you, I know it is."

Joyce thought about it for a bit. This proposition was surreal ! And Hopper didn't know what he was doing at all, contrary to what he had wanted her to believe at first... But she still wanted to try.

"Two weeks. I can take two weeks off. I'll take my decision then."

They both spent a few minutes talking about the formalities of her "days off". Hopper finally said:

"So you start in one week. I'll introduce you during the staff's meeting. In the meantime, at what time do you get off at the store ?"

"Umm... around 6.30, most of the time."

"Ok so at the end of the week I'll come and get you, on Friday let's say."

"What ?"

"Well yeah, you need someone to show how to shoot."

"Shoot... yeah, of course." she nodded a bit exaggeratedly. Truth be told, she wasn't very enthusiastic at the idea of holding a gun.

He must have sensed her hesitation, because he added:

"It won't last long... 20 minutes every night should be enough. And don't worry, I know a wasteland that we already used before. It's far enough from the town. It's the perfect place. It's primordial that you know how to defend yourself. Who knows what can happen to you on missions... And... outside of them..."

He didn't finish his sentence but he didn't need to. They had gone through three years of fear, danger and suffering, and nothing was guaranteeing that the monsters of their past were locked away forever.

"You know," he continued. "I told you I wanted you to feel safe. And if I need to teach you how to use a gun for that... then I will."

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I'm going to post two chapters tonight so that I can publish chapter 5 tomorrow, in both French and English.I hope you like this story, thank you for your comments which go straight to my heart!

Don't hesitate to continue your feedback (I'm open to any constructive criticism). 😄